Apparatus for drying or filtering fluids



Dec. 15., 197% F. R. MARX 3,5463% APPARATUS FOR DRYING OR FILTERING FLUIDS Filed July 8, 1968 FEG. 2 PEG! 9 8 5 1 23 5 551- j, 4 4 l 9 mum 1 IMIIIHHIII United States atent O 3,546,855 APPARATUS FOR DRYING R FILTERING FLUIDS Frank Ralph Marx, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, assignor to Monnier Brothers Incorporated, Algonac, Mich.

Filed July 8, 1968, Ser. 'No. 743,228 Claims priority, application Great Britain, July 29, 1967, 34,976/67 Int. Cl. B01d 27/08 US. Cl. 55-481 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for use in filtering fluids in which the fluid to be treated is led to the inlet port of a mounting which supports and positions a treatment cartridge. The mounting further includes an outlet port and the cartridge includes inlet and outlet ports which register with the ports of the mounting when the cartridge is properly positioned for use. To change over to a fresh cartridge, the fresh cartridge is pressed against the used cartridge, the used cartridge thus being expelled from the mounting and the fresh cartridge being guided by the mounting so that it adopts the position in which its ports register with those of the mounting.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF INVENTION Air driers fall into two main categories. Firstly there are mechanical types such as cyclones which remove only the moisture carried over in the form of droplets. A disadvantage of this type is that if there should be a drop in temperature or pressure downstream of the separator then more moisture will separate out of the air in droplet form. These droplets can cause instruments to malfunc tion and can also have undesirable effects on process plant to which the moist air is fed. Secondly, chemical driers are known which do not sulfer from this disadvantage. However, chemical driers do suffer from the dis advantage that they are bulky and are generally expensive.

One object of the present invention is to provide air drying apparatus which does not suffer from these disadvantages.

A further more general object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive form of apparatus which is capable of treating a flowing fluid in any desired manner e.g. filtering to remove dust.

A further object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for treating a flowing fluid, the apparatus including an expendable cartridge which can be replaced with virtually no interruption of the fluid flow.

To these ends the present invention provides apparatus for use in drying, filtering or otherwise treating fluids, comprising in combination a fluid treatment cartridge and a mounting for supporting and guiding the treatment cartridge, the cartridge and the mounting each being formed with inlet and outlet ports whereby, in use with the cartridge in an operative position supported by the mounting, fluid can enter the cartridge through communicating inlet ports of the mounting and cartridge, flow through the cartridge, and exit through communicating outlet ports of the mounting and cartridge, therebeing sealing means to prevent escape of fluid during passage of the fluid from the inlet port of the mounting to the outlet port of the mounting, and the mounting being so formed that with a first cartridge supported by the mounting in said operative position, a second cartridge guided by the mounting and pressed into contact with the first cartridge urges the first cartridge out of said 3,546,855 Patented Dec. 15, 1970 operative position and itself adopts said operative position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan View of air drying apparatus,

FIG. 2 is a vertical section through the air drying apparatus of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a modified form of the air drying apparatus of FIG. 1,

In the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 the apparatus is designed for air drying and/ or filtering and is intended to be installed in a compressed air supply line to an individual instrument or machine. It will be understood that in many compressed air supply systems for a large plant where absolutely dry air is necessary, a large chemical air drier is usually provided in the main compressed air supply line, but the present invention allows comparatively small and inexpensive air drying apparatus to be fitted in the individual supply line to each machine or instrument which requires the absolutely dry air.

The apparatus comprises a casing or mounting composed of two end plates 1 and connecting plates 2 which together define a vertical passageway of rectangular cross-section. The plates 1 are formed with flat facing surfaces 3 (FIG. 2), each end plate being provided with an inlet or outlet port 4 communicating with an air supply or discharge connection (not shown). The ports 4 are aligned horizontally. The passageway is open at the top and bottom so as to allow air drying cartridges 5 to be inserted and removed.

Each cartridge 5 has end walls 6 connected by side walling, the end walls being perforated to provide inlet and outlet ports. The interior of each cartridge is packed with a suitable air drying and/ or filtering material 7 such as silica gel granules and/or wire wool. A shallow projecting flange '8 is formed at each end of each cartridge 5 and within each flange 8 is mounted a resilient sealing element 9 of rectangular shape formed with a central aperture 10 registering with the respective perforated end wall 6 of the cartridge 5. The length of each cartridge 5 is such that when inserted through the upper entry to the vertical passageway in the casing, the two sealing elements 9 thereof make close sealing engagement with the flat facing surfaces 3.

The whole or part of each cartridge 5 may be formed of a transparent material such as a synthetic plastics and within the cartridge there may be positioned a chemical indicator element ,(not shown) which will change colour when the drying action of the silica gel is exhausted.

In use, the drying cartridge 5, when in position in the casing, has the aperture 10 in the two sealing elements 9 aligned with the inlet and outlet ports 4- in the end plates '1. A sealed flow path is thus provided between the inlet and outlet ports 4 through the cartridge 5. The indicator element will be visible through an opening in the casing and when the cartridge is exhausted an operator takes a fresh cartridge (the upper one in FIG. 2 and inserts it through the upper opening into the passageway. By press ing this fresh cartridge downwards, the used cartridge (the lower one in FIG. 2) is ejected and simultaneously the new cartridge is brought into alignment with the ports 4 in the end plates 1. There is no necessity to provide stop valves or change-over valves. The sealing elements 9 on the ends of the cartridges 5 prevent any substantial escape of air during the change-over and subsequently when the new cartridge 5 is in position.

Referring now to FIG. 3, this illustrates a modified form of the embodiment of FIG. 2 and the figure has been drawn to illustrate that the casing can be arranged with the passageway horizontal. The reference numerals used in FIG. 3 correspond to those used in FIG. 2 with the addition of a prime. For the sake of clarity the cartridges of the apparatus of FIG. 3 are not illustrated in detail in FIG. 3 but are merely shown in outline. A retaining plate 31 includes a base 32 and two upstanding end walls 33. The spacing between the walls 33 is sulficient to enable two cartridges 5' to be placed therebetween with the cartridges supported by the base 32. The plate 31 is free to slide in the horizontal passageway and is supported by the lower plate 2'.

In use of the apparatus shown in FIG. 6, the plate 31 is slightly further to the left than in the illustrated posi tion so that the ports 4' are aligned with the perforated end walls of the right-hand cartridge 5'. The left-hand part of the retaining plate 31 projects sufliciently far from the left-hand end of the casing to enable a used cartridge 5 to be removed and a fresh cartridge 5' to be placed in the position illustrated. When it is desired to change over to the fresh cartridge the .plate 31 is pushed to the right thereby carrying. the fresh cartridge into alignment with the ports 4' and the used cartridge to a position outside the casing. The used cartridge is then removed and replaced by a fresh cartridge and, at a later date, the plate 3 1 is returned to the left to change over the cartridges once more.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for use in filtering fluids flowing therethrough, comprising a filter cartridge being generally rectangular in form and including planar end walls, side walls and top and bottom Walls, and having an inlet port formed in one end wall and an outlet port formed in the other end wall, and mounting means, including an inlet port and an outlet port, for supporting said cartridge in the operative position thereof wherein said inlet port of said cartridge registers with the inlet port of said mounting means and said outlet port of said cartridge registers with said outlet port of said mounting means so that fluid can enter the cartridge through the communicating inlet ports of said mounting means and said cartridge, flow through said cartridge and exit through the communicating outlet ports of said mounting means and said cartridge, said mounting means comprising a housing including first and second spaced-apart planar end walls and first and second spaced-apart planar side walls interconnecting said end walls, said planar end walls and side walls defining a substantially rectangular passage through said housing, said apparatus further comprising sealing means at each end of said cartridge and fixed relative to the inlet ports and outlet ports of said first cartridge when said cartridge is in the operative position thereof, for surrounding the ports of said cartridge and preventing the escape of fluid during the passage of fluid from the inlet port of said mounting means, through said cartridge, to the outlet port of said mounting means, and a second cartridge identical to and in contact with said first cartridge, said mounting means supporting said second cartridge within said'housing and at least partially within said rectangular passage and guiding the movement of said second cartridge such that pressing the second cartridge against the first cartridge in a direction such that the end walls of the cartridges slide with respect to the end walls of the mounting means causes the ports of the first cartridge to move out of register with the ports of the mounting means and the ports of the second cartridge to come into register with the ports of the mounting means.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which said sealing means includes sealing elements which extend around each port of the cartridges, and the two sealing elements co-operate with said end walls to minimise leakage of fluid.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which each port of the cartridges is constituted by a plurality of perforations.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which a retaining plate is provided for carrying both said cartridges during change-over from the first cartridge to the second cartridge, the retaining plate including retaining walls for holding the cartridges in position with respect to one another and thereby preventing fluid under pressure which flows to between the cartridges during change-over from urging the cartridges apart.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS' 1,807,521 5/1931 Foulk -482 2,402,140 6/ 1946 Heintzelman 55-482 2,789,654 4/1957 Zurit 55-387 2,853,153 9/1958 Sexton 55-481 3,175,342 3/1965 Balogh 55-389 3,183,649 5/1965 Teller 55-390 3,186,148 6/1965 Merrill et al. 55-387 3,240,567 3/1966 Caparrelli et al. 55-387 3,246,758 4/1966 Wagner 55-387 3,311,454 3/1967 Kemeng et al. 55-387 3,353,339 11/1967 Walter 55-387 1,489,831 4/1924 Jordahl 55-481 1,706,594 3/1929 Schiller et al. 55-479 1,965,461 7/1934 Gray 55-387 2,702,089 2/1955 Engelder 55-388 2,852,095 9/1958 Coriolis et al. 55-480 3,452,522 7/1969 Dupont 55-502 FRANK W. LUTTER, Primary Examiner B. NOZICK, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 5 5--502 

